Road Trip – OLD & NEW ADVENTURES – Day 5 – St Augustine Fort, Pirates, Distillery and Ghosts!

**anji** · 21 Jul 17, 01:59 PM

Road Trip – OLD & NEW ADVENTURES – Day 5 – St Augustine Fort, Pirates, Distillery and Ghosts!

Much walking to be done today! Another beautiful blue sky. Breakfast at the Penny Farthing is served on the decking if you don’t want to use the dining room. Breakfast here is slightly different in that everything is cooked from scratch and is the same for everyone. Today was raspberry and cream cheese French toast with sausage and fruit! Absolutely delicious with juice and coffee. pennyfarthinginn

We set off into the sunshine with lots to do today. We decided to go to the Castillo de San Marcos first and went by the shoreline. We went past the beautiful Lightner Museum and through the side streets and stopped first at Ponce de Lion (Bridge of Lions) and walked to the middle for a look round – no dolphins today. A lot of the buildings are made of tabby - oysters and other shells.

We were soon at the Fort and saw there were quite a few school outings there too. We were informed that they were about to fire the cannon so went up to the battlements. This was really interesting with the men dressed in uniform and also very loud!

The castle is the oldest masonry fort in the USA and was built from 1672 – actually 100 years after the first settlement there. It has a moat and rather than being filled with water all the time, the sea was only let in if they were under attack!

We spent good hour here looking at everything and really enjoyed it. After this we definitely needed a cold drink as it was baking hot. We crossed the road over to the Colonial Quarter Adventure Tour (which we didn’t fancy as it’s more for children) and sat outside the little café there – iced coffee for me and Coke float for Will. There’s an ‘English’ pub called the White Lion which we would have gone in but it was filled with school children eating their lunches!

Next was the Pirate & Treasure Museum. This was so good! Lots of artefacts and information on the pirates and their treasure. There’s also a ‘ride’ room – which I thought was going to be a film. It was just us in there – you put on headphones then it goes pitch black. Lots going on in your ears, feeling like there’s rats running around and pirates breathing on you – scared the life out of me and reminded me of the Alien/Stitch ride at Disney. We later found out that Disney actually produced this – so no wonder!

After this we popped back to the White Lion and had a couple of beers as the children had gone. There were school parties in the museum too. I must say my heart sank when I saw them in both places BUT they were all so well behaved and paying attention to everything. No trouble at all with noise or running about. Each school had trip t shirts on too so they could all be identified easily – great idea.

Round the corner from the Pirates was the old gate to the City. We duly entered and then came to the oldest Schoolhouse in America. Really fun little place with animatronics and a lovely garden.

I must admit this area reminded me of Magic Kingdom – it also smelled like it. Lots of sweet things for sale including Dole Whip! By this time we were peckish so went into the lovely Spanish Bakery and sat outside with coffees and cookies – choc chip and my favourite oatmeal & raisin.

We made our way up St George Street, going in a few shops along the way. Distillery next – this was back beyond the Penny Farthing and we took the ‘pretty route’ to get there through the back streets. This is a free tour with tastings and well worth the visit. Gin, Vodka, Bourbon and Rum – what’s not to like!? All the guides were very professional and spoke well. We resisted the temptation to buy lots of bottles!

We walked back to the Penny Farthing – happy hour again! Yay! We had a bit of a rest and showers and headed out again at about 7pm. First we went into Flagler College – a beautiful building.

We found Scarlet O’Hara’s. I’m a huge Gone with the Wind fan – so it had to be done! Huge meals – I had salmon and Will was given practically a whole chicken in KFC style portions.

We went back to St George Street as I’d ‘saved’ myself for an ice cream from Kilwin’s and was determined to have one There’s a little train which runs round a track up by the ceiling. Besides the most amazing ice cream they also serve toffee apples and chocolates etc.

Tonight we were going on a GhoStAugustine ghost tour at 9.15pm. I’d researched all the tours beforehand and this one was a ‘proper’ one, non-theatrical with equipment to use. Mister Ed was our guide and he certainly knew his stuff. We set off across the bridge in a mini-van to the British Pub to go in an apartment above it, the playground area by the Lighthouse, inside Antiques and Uniques shop (old jail) and finally the old graveyard.

I’m not going to go into what we did and saw too much – suffice to say that this was THE best tour we’ve ever done – and we’ve done a lot of them. I conversed through the lights on my meter in the apartment, took a video in the shop which has 5 orbs in it while we were talking to Elizabeth who was turning an LED light on and off. and a photo at the playground with a huge one.

If you want to do a ghost tour in St Augustine, do this one! Mister Ed was just brilliant and had some personal experience tales which were mind boggling! The tour ended at 11.45pm – half an hour later than it should have done due to all that went on.

Back to the Penny Farthing for a good night’s sleep ….. was the rocking chair moving on it’s own …?! The Penny Farthing is also haunted 😊

Index - https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...4#post12643444

collybird · 21 Jul 17, 03:24 PM

The ghost tour sounds amazing! I would probably never sleep again after it but love the idea of it. The orbs are very creepy.

Guest · 23 Jul 17, 04:20 PM

Was there more "Gone with the Wind" art/detritus at Scarlett's - or was it just the painting?

GWTW is The Queen's favourite book/film - so if it's properly themed, I will definitely arrange to take her there!

**anji** · 24 Jul 17, 01:03 AM

Originally Posted by GopherLass

Was there more "Gone with the Wind" art/detritus at Scarlett's - or was it just the painting?

GWTW is The Queen's favourite book/film - so if it's properly themed, I will definitely arrange to take her there!

No there's more ... she'll love it! It was really busy when we were there so I didn't spend as much time looking round as I should have done.

Guest · 24 Jul 17, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by anji

No there's more ... she'll love it! It was really busy when we were there so I didn't spend as much time looking round as I should have done.

Thanks for the extra photos - this is SO going on my list for the big 70th trip.

**WileyCoyote** · 5 Aug 17, 07:34 AM

What a brilliant day, love the pics round St Augustine. Ghost tour sounds fascinating, I'm not sure I would sleep afterwards though !
Breakfast looked luscious, I could eat that right now.

23 Jul 17, 04:20 PM	#3
	23 Jul 17, 04:20 PM Guest Guest
Guest Guest	Was there more "Gone with the Wind" art/detritus at Scarlett's - or was it just the painting? GWTW is The Queen's favourite book/film - so if it's properly themed, I will definitely arrange to take her there!